[The following text is not a
review, but rather a factual report on a project undertaken by one of NMC’s
associate editors]
A Progress Report:
At the
B.L.C.
Michael Dellaira: Cheri. Libretto by
Susan Yankovich from the novel by Colette. Carlin Glynn, director. With Maggi-Meg Reed and Lucas Steele.
Actors Studio’s Playwrights-Directors Unit,
When Michael Dellaira set out to work on his opera Cheri he surely had no idea how much interest and attention this
project would garner from both customary and unexpected sources. After an early workshop presentation at Lou Rodgers’ Golden Fleece, he was invited by the Center for
Contemporary Opera to put the work on stage in a most unusual presentation. The
idea was to perform the work in two contrasting modes as it turned out: have
one act performed by singers with a leaning toward Broadway theater
and the second by operatically trained singers. The results were judged by Leo
Kraft as “original and stimulating” (See NMC, v10, #1, p.17). There were
still other positive comments in the press, and the word soon got around.
Estelle Parsons, director
of the Playwrights-Directors Unit of The Actors Studio, the famed bastion of
Method Acting, heard about this novel theater piece and invited Dellaira and Yankovich to present it there. But the schedule they
adopted allowed only two weeks for rehearsals and musical rewrites; the
composer and librettist then decided to prepare the two acts in tact, but with
some of the lines spoken rather than sung. This decision came about after an
evaluation made with Carlin Glynn
(of The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas
fame), whom Ms. Parsons had appointed director of the Cheri project. Thus a
redirection, a new focus took place, and Cheri
was performed in an interim version to highlight what worked and what did not.
While the studio still classified Cheri
as an opera, Dellaira and Yankovich saw an
opportunity to refashion it as a sort of hybrid of opera and music
theater.
At the performance once
could see immediately that the studio took a no-nonsense position on this
enterprise and selected actors who could sing and singers who could act. They
were all splendid. Casting was done with factors such as age, voice type and
physical attributes carefully considered. The only unfortunate element was a clanky piano (played by Michael Pilafian),
but that was not a problem to the careful observors
and listeners who were looking for other things. For one thing, this listener
could hear just about every sung word, and that is something Mr. Dellaira was
stressing. The leads were especially well done, with the part of Lea sung by
mezzo-soprano Maggi-Meg Reed and Cheri by tenor Lucas
Steele. With some clever staging, the work was made
to look like a complete entity, the two acts separated by many years so as to
paint a believable picture of the changed lives and the changes in heart and
mind of the main characters. Perhaps The Method helps make such restaging work.
Following the performance,
the Studio’s principal raison d’etre became clear to
guests. Many in the audience were members and were encouraged, perhaps expected, to comment on the work. We stress that the reading was held as part
of a forum for feedback from Studio members and from invited professionals.
This is how the Studio develops such works. A panel was also assembled to lead
the discussion. It was made up of Ellen Burstyn (one
of the three presidents of the studio*), Lee Grant, Peter Masterson,
William Greaves, and it was moderated by Patricia Bosworth. Interestingly, Ms. Grant confessed she did not
understand modern music, a term Mr. Dellaira claims he rarely hears applied to
his work. A member of the audience felt the music didn’t sound very French to
him. On a more positive note, Mr. Greaves was pleased
to see a marriage of music with The Method.
It was a most interesting
and informative afternoon. But where does it all go from here? Mr. Dellaira and
Ms. Yankovich will have some time to continue work on
the opera, before the Actors Studio repeats the project next June in a revised
presentation. The goal is to then move the process forward to a short run at
the Studio, and then hopefully to an off-Broadway theater.
[* Rounding out the “troika”
of presidents are Harvey Keitel, who was in attendance, and Al Pacino,
who was not.]